Next Great Baker? Probably not...

So I tried something new today....baking!

I mean, I've baked before, but always while helping my mom or on my own with some (or a lot) of her help. She's pretty talented, actually REALLY talented at baking, but I don't believe I inherited that lovely trait. I decided today that I'm nineteen years old, I should be able to bake SOMETHING by myself. What did i make?

Brownies? Cookies? Cake? Nah, too easy.

I went for....(insert drum roll here)

Macarons.

Like, the super difficult dessert. 

What did I get myself into?

Here's a slight back story to my decision..

I was on Youtube (as usual) and I saw that both Zoella (her channel HERE) and Bethany Mota (her channel HERE) made them recently and they looked SO good, but I don't think there's any place around here that sells them. They didn't seem too tough, so I went out and bought all the ingredients and dove right in.

I used a slightly different recipe than both of those girls that I got from another blog (HERE)

Macarons

3 large egg whites

200 grams of confectioners' sugar

50 grams of granulated white sugar

110 grams of ground almonds (I found some already ground at the health food store near me)

After reading reviews and such, I noticed everyone said to weigh the ingredients instead of using cup measurements. So, I searched my house for a kitchen scale. (thank god I had one). I mixed the confectioners' sugar and the ground almonds together then sifted them to make a fine mixture. Then I started beating my egg whites with the electric mixer until they had stiff peaks. It was somewhere between the consistency of whipped cream and whipped butter. Then I added my granulated sugar until the mixture was glossy. At this step I added my pink food coloring and mixed it in (obviously I chose pink!). Then I added the other dry ingredients and FOLDED the mixture (don't stir!). Once folded and ready, I put the mixture into a Ziploc bag (I couldn't find actual piping bags), then this is where I realized what I got myself into. I cut the corner of the bag and began to try and make small, identical circles on my parchment paper (which was on a cookie sheet). I noticed the mixture didn't look like what it was supposed to, but I went with it and tried my best to get similar looking circles. I ended up taking a butter knife and fixing them once I was finished. I then hit the cookie sheet onto the counter to try and remove any air bubbles and let it sit out for fifteen minutes until the tops of the circles were a little harder. I then popped them in the preheated oven (285°F) and left them for about fifteen minutes. I checked on them about eighty five times because I was so nervous I would burn them (it happens often...). When I took them out, they looked puffier and delicious! I paired up the tops and bottoms and added some Nutella to the inside. 

They look pretty good to me, especially for my first attempt at baking by myself. I will definitely be trying these again. I'm thinking bigger macarons with a dark chocolate and raspberry ganache in the middle. YUM.

So that's it for today!

Look forward to my January favorites coming up on Saturday.

Please leave a comment on what posts I should do, I'll probably do them!

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Everyone Loves A Bookworm

I think it's safe to say I'm a little bookworm, and I always have been. I learned to read and really went with it. Over the years, I've read countless books and even if I didn't enjoy them, I could not put it down for the life of me. In my nineteen years of living, I have only not finished one book before and I still remember it to this day.
After reading Looking For Alaska by John Green, I was really motivated by the main character's idea about books. She created a "life library", where every time she saw a book she wanted, she got it, despite how many other books she had yet to read. This really spoke to me. I would always look at books and think that I wanted to read them but I wouldn't buy it if I had one I didn't read yet. So, I started to buy books whenever, and I have accumulated quite a few that I would like to read.
I have so many that I've actually made myself a nice little nightstand next to my bed for myself...

In this stack are some I've read and would like to read again and some that I haven't read yet...

Candy by Kevin Brooks
Beauty Queen by Linda Glovach*
Paper Towns by John Green
Bossypants by Tina Fey
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes
Whisper by Phoebe Kitanidis
Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer
Sweet Little Lies by Lauren Conrad
Sugar and Spice by Lauren Conrad
If I Stay by Gayle Forman*
Where She Went by Gayle Forman*
Please Don't Be True by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor*
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green*
House Rules by Jodi Picoult*
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher*
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins*
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins*
Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith
Mess by Keri Smith
Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult
The Anatomy of Violence by Adrian Raine
(*already read)

I think every time I finish a book, I'll put up a short post about how I felt about and if I would recommend it. All the books I shared that are already read I would absolutely recommend you read. They're essentially my favorites at the moment and have been since I read them (which some of them were finished a loooong time ago). I'm currently starting at the top of the pile and I'll work my way down. At least until I add more to the pile...

So, that's it for today! I'll talk to you guys next time.
Until then, have a great day!


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BYE.

My Favorite Winter Nail Polish

Welcome back everyone!

Let's start off with a little side note; It's beginning to become clearer each week that I'm terrible with timing these posts, seeing as I was planning on a few posts a week. So, I'm going to try harder to post more. (I have LOTS of posts planned)

Today is all about nail polish (if you didn't already look at the title...)
I couldn't even tell you the last time I had no nail polish on for a full 24 hours. It's been well over a year at least. I tend to paint them once or twice a week. A few months ago, I even went as far as painting them every single day for a whole week. (Yes, it always matched my outfit, weirdo alert!) I've always struggled with biting my nails since I can remember, but as a late New Years Resolution, I've stopped about a week and a half ago and I'm still going strong. Now, they're on their way to looking even prettier when they're painted, which leads me to the whole point of this.

I have accumulated a large collection of nail polish and I've gone and picked out my favorites for the winter months. Although most people pick only darker colors, I don't really care. I wear what I want! So these are my current favorites...



Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss

vio-last 300

my papaya 250

Essie Nail Lacquer

bahama mama

chinchilly

Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear 

Black Out

Breezy Blue

Disco Ball

OPI 

DS Top Coat

As you can see, I have stayed away from greens and yellows, but you'll see them come back around during summer. Those are really the only colors I never put on during winter. I would just like to take a minute and mention that the OPI top coat is easily the best top coat I've used. I used to only use the China Glaze top coat, but I was really put off by the strong smell it gave off (and I'm never one to complain about the smell of nail polish).

So that's it for this week, (short, sweet, and to the point). Thanks for reading and I'll talk to you next time!


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BYE.

January Mascaras

Hi everyone!

So, I feel like every girl has one makeup product that they love the most. Mine happens to be mascara. Whenever I see a new one out, or simply one I haven't tried yet, I HAVE to buy it. They call my name, I swear...

I have tried a good handful of mascaras, and some of them I loved and some of them were just not my favorite. Then there's the select few that I have tried only once and never wanted to put them on again, but I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. I try to buy both drugstore and high-end brands, because we don't discriminate here.

Let's start with the good ones...

Maybelline The Colossal Cat Eyes

($5 at Target)

It is said to have a collagen formula and a claw brush in order to get up to 8 times the volume, especially in the corners of your eyes. 

This is my favorite mascara for my bottom lashes primarily. This did have quite a strong smell to it when I first bought it, but the more I used it, the more I didn't notice it. It does a really great job of separating the lashes without a clump in sight. I'm not too sure about having 8 times the volume, but they are noticeably longer than my untouched eyelashes. 

Covergirl Flamed Out Mascara

($6 at Target)

It's supposed to give instant maximum volume with bold, winged, curled lashes. 

I liked this mascara, but it wasn't a favorite. I felt like the brush actually held too much product and I found myself scraping some off before applying it. Afterwards though, I did like it. It separated my lashes well and didn't clump too bad. There were a few clumps here and there but I just reapplied a little more and it evened things out. I did always notice that it was a tad sticky when first applied, but it did                                                                                                                 dry up enough to be able to be worn all day. 

Maybelline The Colossal

($6 at Target...see a trend here?)

This mascara is similar to the cat eyes one, with a different brush and supposedly more volume.

This is hands-down my favorite drugstore mascara. As you can tell, it is well loved and my go-to product every morning. The brush separates the lashes so well and actually gives a great deal of volume. I have never seen a clump and the best part is, this mascara is SUPER buildable. No matter how many coats I put on (typically three) it just continues looking great.

Smashbox Full Exposure

($20 at Ulta)

No clumps, no flakes, huge volume, length and curl is what is supposed to happen with this mascara.

And it's true. This is my favorite high-end mascara. At a steep $20 per tube, it stands up to what it's supposed to be (yay!). I first tried the sample size of this, since there was no way I was going to buy the big one without knowing if I liked it, but ended up getting the big one later anyways. My lashes look way longer and fuller than they usually are and this is the mascara that I get the most compliments on. I can apply and apply and apply without any clumps and it lasts literally all day. Even at work where it's hot and sweaty all day, it looks the same when I leave as it did when I got there, which is a major plus. I have a feeling I'm going to be so upset when this runs out. I may have to treat myself again...

Benefit's They're Real!

($23 at Ulta)

This is meant to lengthen, add volume, curl and separate while staying put all day.

This is 100% a close 2nd to my favorite high-end mascara, and I just bought it! I bought the trial size for $10 at Sephora and as soon as this runs out, I'll be buying the normal size. This applies really well and stays in place all day. It gives great length and volume no matter how many layers there are. I found that it dries on my lashes perfectly so it's not sticky. I'll definitely be using this more often. 

And with all the good, comes some bad...

Maybelline The Rocket

($6 at Target)

Washable mascara that is supposed to have huge volume and length. 

At first, I liked this mascara. It lengthened and separated my lashes. After awhile though, it started make my lashes stick together and it became difficult to separate. Also, it didn't volumize like I hoped it would. When I went to take it off, it was incredibly hard to get off. Even with my best makeup remover, I still couldn't get it all off. 

Rimmel Glam Eyes

($7.30 at Ulta)

This is meant to give great volume and separation.

This is probably the mascara I was most disappointed about. I liked this one a lot and it did make my lashes look great, especially my bottom ones. I tried using this for a couple days, but after sleeping with it on (one of my bad habits) I woke up with red, puffy eyes and I narrowed it down to this. I had an allergic reaction to it, but if you aren't allergic to this, it's a great product. 

Too Faced Better Than False Lashes Nylon Lash Extension System

($35 at Ulta)

With this mascara, you put on the base and top coat, then the nylon fibers, then the base and top coat again in order to create a false lash look without the glue. 

This definitely does what it's supposed to. After application, it really did look like I had false lashes on. I also found this isn't very build-able and tended to clump. It doesn't dry like other mascaras and was so sticky that it essentially looked like I just had one big lash. When I went to remove it, I could not get it all off. It just continued to stick to my lashes. This is probably the biggest waste of $35 (which is also way too expensive for a mascara). This only way I could stand to use this mascara is if I use a different one afterwards to force them to dry better. 

Phew, you made it! This was a pretty long one and most won't be this long. Being me, I will buy more mascaras and you will surely know all about them.

Also, I made a Luvocracy page to coincide with my posts (link below). I have already added all the mascaras I talked about (except the Rimmel Glam Eyes). Luvocracy is a really great way to have everything in one place and the best thing is, you can buy all the products directly from the page itself. Also, you get a $10 credit just for signing up, so go check it out!

Check out all my stuff I have too:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/siennagronowski
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Luvocracy: http://www.luvocracy.com/siennajahn


Please feel free to leave comments about future blog posts I should make, I'll probably do them.

See you next time!
BYE.

Hi Everyone!

Well, here it is; my first blog post. Want to know a little about me? Good, because you were learning anyways...

I'm Sienna Jahn (like John, but the made-up girl version). I'm from Western New York and I'm nineteen years old. I work in a pizzeria, but I don't make pizza (if you need subs or chicken wings though, I'm your girl). I have a few pets, which I'll probably talk about in a later post (be excited, they're cute). And currently I'm taking a semester off from college, which lead me here.

You see, I'm completely and utterly obsessed with all things makeup. All my money is spent on makeup, no matter how much I have (well, and food. Food is good too.) When I'm not spending money, I'm talking about makeup. It might be becoming a slight annoyance to everyone around me. Oops.

On this page, expect to be reading full reviews of products, different makeup looks and tutorials, a little bit of fashion or outfit of the days here and there, and naturally some life things that I'd like to share! Who knows, maybe I'll even start some video making too. I'm still in the process of deciding. I may or may not do one post a day, but you'll definitely have a new post every week. Look forward to that!

This begins the next part of my journey called life (is that cheesy to say? oh well) and you're coming along with me. Bored? It'll get better than this, I pinky promise.

Check out my other stuff I have too:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/siennagronowski
Tumblr: http://siennagronowski.tumblr.com/


Please feel free to leave comments about future blog posts I should make, I'll probably do them.


BYE.